The Kingdom of Prester John (An IN AAR)
The Kingdom of Prester John
Prester John – the name itself was familiar to most men and women who lived in Europe in the last decades of the sixteenth century. Fabled to be a Christian lord ruling over lands distant and unconnected from the rest of Christiandom the man was not only a way of expressing the idea of Christ's universal message, but also the idea that the rest of the world might not consist of mere savages, heretics, and unbelievers. The realms of Prester John were though to be located in a multitude of places. Early scholars, especially in Western Europe believed a follower of John the Baptist had founded a godly kingdom in Syria that continued to exist well a millennium after the death of Christ. Others pegged the mythical lands to be further to the east – perhaps among the vast steppes of central Asia, a bulwark against the Mongol hordes. Yet more ecclesiastical voices described a just land beyond the reaches of Arabia, nestled amongst the pagans near the Indus. Of the legends the last of these was to prove the most appealing to men of knowledge in the west. Many of them claimed through reliable sources with the Portuguese that they had found villages near the coasts in which villagers spoke a form of Greek and believed they were descended from a man named “Alexandrus” - a clear sign to those Portuguese that something was afoot in the region.
As the sixteenth century began then the idea that Prester John's kingdom was a fact was almost undisputed. More than one merchant sailing to India had brought back proof – decrepit men who spoke a smattering of Greek and spoke of Christ's disciples with reverent tones. When faced with one such man the Pope himself, Julius II, had ordered that an expedition be raised to contact Prester John himself to establish ties with the far off kingdom. Other in Venice, Genoa, and Portugal also made ready their own expeditions to travel east to meet and establish contact with the fabled Christian ruler – not for spiritual purposes, but for trade to bypass the now Turkish and Arab dominated trade to Cathay.
The mythical Prester John
Unknown to all these few reported natives from the lands of Prester John were mere imitations – natives from the Indian subcontinent dressed in ancient Greek garb and taught to speak a little known dialect of that tongue. The ambitious men who devised the ruse quickly grew rich, and to hide their lies the men they used were put to the sword, either thrown overboard on the next voyage to the east or straggled in their sleep as skeptical clergymen got too close.
As the four expeditions – from Genoa, Venice, Rome, and Portugal made their way out from Europe – none could fathom that the notion of Prester John's kingdom was as yet still a mere fable, concocted by ambitious merchants, impious and greedy. This itself would seem logical to the authorities had they merely known, but the idea of a lost Christian kingdom and the supposed truth to their existence had touched a nerve in Catholic Europe. Since the last Crusade their had been no outlet international outlet for the faith, but now one existed – real or not.
None, especially the conartists, could fathom that the realms of Prester John did exist – but far to the southeast in the Horn of Africa.
The Kingdom of Prester John
Prester John – the name itself was familiar to most men and women who lived in Europe in the last decades of the sixteenth century. Fabled to be a Christian lord ruling over lands distant and unconnected from the rest of Christiandom the man was not only a way of expressing the idea of Christ's universal message, but also the idea that the rest of the world might not consist of mere savages, heretics, and unbelievers. The realms of Prester John were though to be located in a multitude of places. Early scholars, especially in Western Europe believed a follower of John the Baptist had founded a godly kingdom in Syria that continued to exist well a millennium after the death of Christ. Others pegged the mythical lands to be further to the east – perhaps among the vast steppes of central Asia, a bulwark against the Mongol hordes. Yet more ecclesiastical voices described a just land beyond the reaches of Arabia, nestled amongst the pagans near the Indus. Of the legends the last of these was to prove the most appealing to men of knowledge in the west. Many of them claimed through reliable sources with the Portuguese that they had found villages near the coasts in which villagers spoke a form of Greek and believed they were descended from a man named “Alexandrus” - a clear sign to those Portuguese that something was afoot in the region.
As the sixteenth century began then the idea that Prester John's kingdom was a fact was almost undisputed. More than one merchant sailing to India had brought back proof – decrepit men who spoke a smattering of Greek and spoke of Christ's disciples with reverent tones. When faced with one such man the Pope himself, Julius II, had ordered that an expedition be raised to contact Prester John himself to establish ties with the far off kingdom. Other in Venice, Genoa, and Portugal also made ready their own expeditions to travel east to meet and establish contact with the fabled Christian ruler – not for spiritual purposes, but for trade to bypass the now Turkish and Arab dominated trade to Cathay.
The mythical Prester John
Unknown to all these few reported natives from the lands of Prester John were mere imitations – natives from the Indian subcontinent dressed in ancient Greek garb and taught to speak a little known dialect of that tongue. The ambitious men who devised the ruse quickly grew rich, and to hide their lies the men they used were put to the sword, either thrown overboard on the next voyage to the east or straggled in their sleep as skeptical clergymen got too close.
As the four expeditions – from Genoa, Venice, Rome, and Portugal made their way out from Europe – none could fathom that the notion of Prester John's kingdom was as yet still a mere fable, concocted by ambitious merchants, impious and greedy. This itself would seem logical to the authorities had they merely known, but the idea of a lost Christian kingdom and the supposed truth to their existence had touched a nerve in Catholic Europe. Since the last Crusade their had been no outlet international outlet for the faith, but now one existed – real or not.
None, especially the conartists, could fathom that the realms of Prester John did exist – but far to the southeast in the Horn of Africa.
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